Don’t know if Nawaz Sharif was aware of GHQ meeting: Maryam
PML-N vice president says political decisions should be taken in parliament, not in GHQ
Our Correspondent |
September 23, 2020
KARACHI: As political volatility rises amid a flurry of opposition events, Maryam Safdar, the political heir apparent to former premier Nawaz Sharif, has said she doesn’t know if her father had acquiesced to the participation of PML-N’s senior leaders in a huddle at the GHQ where all parliamentary leaders were invited.
The disclosure of the meeting, which took place right before the opposition’s all-party conference (APC), has triggered a guessing game in the media because the participants are said to have been counseled against “dragging the military into politics”. Notwithstanding, speeches of the APC participants and the “declaration” adopted by it were full of direct and indirect anti-establishment rhetoric.
“I’m not aware of any dinner at the GHQ,” Maryam told a questioner outside the Islamabad High Court where she had a hearing of her appeal against her conviction in the Avenfield property reference. “Perhaps it wasn’t dinner. What I’ve heard is that the meeting was convened to discuss the Gilgit-Baltistan [election] issue,” she added.
“It is a political issue… an issue of people's representatives… and it’s for them to solve with consultation and deliberation. Such decisions should be taken in parliament, not in GHQ,” Maryam said.
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Express Tribune on Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Asked if the PML-N leaders had Sharif’s blessings for participation in the meeting, she denied having any knowledge of that. However, she said that “the political leadership should not be called nor should it go to discuss such issues”.
Maryam Nawaz is a vice president of the PML-N. And her statement shows she was neither on board nor privy to the PML-N’s participation in the GHQ meeting. But if the federal railways minister is to be believed it was not the first time PML-N leaders had met with the military leadership.
Sheikh Rashid claimed on Tuesday that the PML-N leaders had had two meetings with the military leadership in as many months. Chaudhry Ahsan Iqbal attended both the meetings, he claimed, though Ahsan was quick to brush aside the claim as a “lie”.
Nawaz’s fiery speech at the APC revived rumours about his mystery illness as he, according to government ministers, looked hale and hearty. He hasn’t undergone any medical procedure since he was flown to London on a one-time permission of the government for treatment of his undiagnosed ailment.
Maryam claimed that her “ailing” father’s treatment has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic as hospitals in the UK were not conducting surgeries.
The court has declared Nawaz absconder after his refusal to return and serve a seven-year sentence handed to him by a court after his conviction in a financial corruption case.
The GHQ huddle took place on September 16 where attendees included 15 opposition politicians including Sheh¬baz Sharif, Bil¬a¬wal Bhutto, Sirajul Haq, Amir Haider Hoti, JUI-F’s Asad Mahmood, Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Sherry Rehman and some cabinet ministers.
The military leadership made it clear to the participants that the army should not be dragged into political rivalries, saying that it is “not involved, directly or indirectly, in any political process of the country”.
“The military will always stand with the civilian government,” sources quoted a senior military official telling the parliamentary leaders during the meeting. “Civil affairs and matters should be handled by the civil administration,” the sources further quoted the military leadership as saying.
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